The league on Thursday canceled games through Jan. 14, bringing the total number lost to the NHL lockout to 625—50.8 percent of the season.

Whether Gary Bettman says so or not, the NHL lockout has its drop-dead date. (AP Photo)

There isn't an official "drop-dead" date for the 2011-12 season, but realistically, this is the last round of cancellations before the big one; commissioner Gary Bettman has said that a schedule of less than 48 games isn't a real option, and deputy commissioner Bill Daly said that mid-January would be the latest possible agreement point on a new collective bargaining agreement.

It doesn't get more "mid-January" than Jan. 14.

When the NHL staged a 48-game season following the 1994-95 lockout, the CBA was agreed to on Jan. 11 and the puck was dropped on Jan. 20. The regular season ran through May 3 and saw the Stanley Cup awarded on June 24—thanks to sweeps in four of the last seven playoff series.

Negotiations derailed two weeks ago in New York, and the sides haven't done more than email or speak on the phone since. The league believes that negotiations should resume only when there is something new to say.

"I don't think either party is refusing a meeting," Daly said in an email to The Associated Press. "But unless there is an indication one side or the other is prepared to move or has a new idea to move the process forward—and so far neither side has indicated—I am not sure what we would do at the meeting.

"What is the agenda? Who is directing the conversation? We don't have anything new to say right now."

The NHLPA, whether members or executive director Donald Fehr, has been public in its desire to get back to the table.

Fehr, after a round of productive player/owner-only talks, said the sides were close and had agreed on the main financial issues. Bettman and Daly immediately denied that to be true, saying that any perceived agreements were contingent on other parts of a proposal that Fehr did not accept.

Meanwhile, the league and union continue to deal with the legal ramifications of the lockout. On Thursday, a court summons was filed in New York that stated the NHLPA has until Jan. 7 to respond to a class-action complaint filed by the NHL last week.

The league has asked a federal court to rule on the legality of the lockout and argued in its complaint that the NHLPA was only threatening to disband as a bargaining tactic designed to "extract more favourable terms and conditions of employment."

A vote of the union's membership on the possibility of filing a "disclaimer of interest" is scheduled to wrap up Friday. Two-thirds of players must support the motion for the NHLPA's executive board to be granted the authority to disclaim by Jan. 2, which would allow them to file anti-trust lawsuits against the league.

"We feel like we have no other choice right now," Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos said this week. "We feel like we've done our part and we'll see what transpires over the next couple of weeks. We're in this process and we all wish we could have something much earlier, but we have to deal with what's in front of us."